10. Mega Man 2 - 1988 - Takashi Tateishi and Manami Matsumae
There was something about the constraint of working on older, limited audio hardware that forced NES composers and audio designers to be super creative. Some of the most catchy soundtracks are from this era and Mega Man 2 perfectly exemplifies this. Listening to any of the Mega Man 2 OST practically guarantees you'll be humming it for the rest of the day. The first thing you're treated to when starting up the game is the title screen music. My favorite of the boss' themes are Metal Man, Air Man, Bubble Man, and Flash Man. And of course, there's the iconic Dr. Wiley Stage 1
9. The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask - 2000 - Koji Kondo and Toru Minegishi
I'm cheating a little bit here. Fans of the series know that the Majora's Mask soundtrack recycles a lot of the iconic music from the Ocarina of Time Soundtrack like Woods of Mystery (Saria's Song), Guru Guru's Song (Song of Storms), and Recollection of Zelda (Zelda's Lullaby). In addition to these classic tunes, Majora's Mask also features new original catchy tunes like the Deku Nut's Palace, Rockvale Temple Outside, and Clock Town Day 1.
8. Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze - 2014 - David Wise
Using modern composing equipment and techniques, this soundtrack is an effective modernization of the Donkey Kong Country soundtracks on the SNES in the 90s. The result is a spectacular display of the variety and depth of David Wise's music composing mastery. Fans of the original DKC 2 soundtrack will be able to spot the remixes easily like Current Capers, Irate Eight Chase and Twilight Terror. The original tracks are top notch as well, including Windmill Hills, Deep Keep and Fruity Factory
7. Hotline Miami - 2012 - (Various Artists)
One of the most unique and standout soundtracks in recent memory. I loved how it rejected the trend of using full orchestral compositions at a time where that was definitely the norm for games soundtracks. The result is a very unique and identifiable sound which must have been extra challenging to accomplish when you consider that the Hotline Miami soundtrack was composed by nearly 10 different people. Standout tracks are Cystals (M.O.O.N), Daisuke (El Huervo), Hotline (Jasper Byrne), Knock Knock (Scattle), Miami Disco (Perturbator), and Paris (M.O.O.N)
6. Seiken Densetsu 3 (Secret of Mana 2) - 1995 - Hiroki Kikuta
Sadly never officially released in the U.S., this game is known as Secret of Mana 2 to those who likely played it using a translated ROM. The game is good, but the soundtrack is better. It was composed by Hiroki Kikuta, a hugely underrated and unknown composer for how talented he is. I was quite pleased to see Kikuta is teaming up with the folks at Lab Zero games (the people who made Skullgirls) and is working on composing the soundtrack to their upcoming RPG "Indivisible". This man needs to get more work. Kikuta sampled all of the instruments and sound effects for Seiken Densetsu 3 himself, and the care he put into the soundtracks is very obvious. Listen to Few Paths Forbidden, Powell, Splash Hop, Can You Fly, Sister?, Weird Counterpoint and The Sacrifice Part 3 for evidence of this. This is a soundtrack I'd highly recommend listening from top to bottom though
5. Shatter - 2009 - Module
If there's anyone who needs more work composing game soundtracks more than Hiroki Kikuta, it's Jeremiah Ross a.k.a. "Module". I absolutely loved the Shatter soundtrack - which was by far the best part of the game - but to the best of my knowledge, it's the only thing Module has ever composed for a game. Amethyst Caverns, Freon World, Granular Extractor, Krypton Garden, Kinetic Harvest, and Aurora are all spectacular tracks, but this is another soundtrack where you can't go wrong by picking any of the tracks at random. If you like trance-y electronic music, this is for you. Now someone get this guy more work!
4. Chrono Trigger - 1995 - Yasunori Mitsuda, Nobuo Uematsu, and Noriko Matsueda
Most of the soundtrack was composed by Yasunori Mitsuda who was previously a sound effects programmer at Squaresoft. He was granted his very first lead composing gig after threatening to quit, but fell ill while working on the soundtrack so Nobuo Uematsu stepped in to apply the finishing touches. Noriko Matsueda composed Chrono Trigger's boss battle theme, but other than that, most of the notable tracks on the album were done by Mitsuda. No one should be this good at composing on their first try. Examples of his awesome compositions are Time Circuits, Silvard, Secret of the Forest, Chrono Trigger, Frog's Theme, and Robo's Theme.
3. Final Fantasy IX - 2000 - Nobuo Uematsu
I'm pretty sure Uematsu has gone on record saying this is his favorite of his own compositions, and I can see why. The soundtrack is huge, coming in at well over 100 tracks, all composed by Uematsu and most of which being of very high quality. Whereas some of Uematsu 's soundtracks show off his versatility and variety, the FFIX soundtrack shows what happens when he sticks to a mostly similar theme. My favorite tracks are Battle Theme, Stirring in the Forest, Crossing Those Hills, Border Village Dali, Hunter's Chance, and You're Not Alone.
2. Donkey Kong Country 2 - 1995 - David Wise
This is the game soundtrack that made me fall in love with game soundtracks as a kid. I can remember renting this game from Blockbuster Video and setting up a tape recorder next to the television to record the entire OST before returning the game so I'd have it to listen to whenever I wanted. Standout tracks are Stickerbrush Symphony, Hot Head Hop, Disco Train, Mining Melancholy, Bayou Boogie and Snakey Chantey
1. Final Fantasy VIII - 1999 - Nobuo Uematsu
This is probably the only time you'll see FFVIII at the top of any list created by myself. I tried really hard not to make my top 10 soundtracks a list of top 10 soundtracks by Nobuo Uematsu, but that's just kind of what happens when you start talking about game music. Say what you will about FFVIII - and I have - , the soundtrack is undeniably genius. This is my personal favorite soundtrack by Uematsu as it really shows off the amazing breadth of his unmatched composing talent. I love the relaxing Breezy, the entrancing Find Your Way, the mysterious Under Her Control the nostalgic Fisherman's Horizon and the ominous, angry, uptempo Maybe I'm a Lion. And of course there's Man With the Machine Gun too.
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